From NEP To NEM

Today, we retrieved RM24 from the HELP for Haiti Fund collection box. The grand total is now RM7,995, and inching closer to the RM8k mark.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Najib Razak (right) unveiled the New Economic Model (NEM) – effectively replacing the much-maligned New Economic Policy (NEP), introduced by his late father, Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysia’s second PM. 

The NEM is a national template that embodies broad economic reforms to transform the country into a high-income nation that is both sustainable and inclusive by 2020. 

And Najib even knew how to sing the right melody: “While the NEP’s original policies are still relevant, it is time to review its implementation. We will chase the same goals but transform the way we do things” (The Sun, Malaysia, March 31, 2010, p 1). 

Notwithstanding, the NEP was an elaborate failure because of poor implementation, and this is to put it very mildly.

Having said that, the NEM as I understand it, is like a celebrated pop song (think of any of the songs by Beyonce or Lady Gaga or Shakira) that will propel itself straight to the top of the music charts. It is a catchy tune, bursting with ear-pleasing rhythms that will make us shake our booty but at the same time, it is a music piece that is lightweight and some would say, even hackneyed. 

In other words, the NEM lacks substance, although it scores high on intentions. I have arrived at this conclusion based on what I have been reading in all the reports I could find. It is noteworthy to mention that the NEM is a 160-page report that is impregnated with a 31-page Executive Summary! (ibid, p8). 

I daresay, it contains a lot of showy platitudes for it to sound so pretentiously pompous! As a Marketing person, it’s called the packaging!

Senior DAP lawmaker, Lim Kit Siang highlighted the problem faced by Najib’s NEM as being the same faced by his 1 Malaysia concept – and that is, whether he is prepared to really walk the talk.

I guess, we just have to wait for its follow-up, the Economic Transformation Program roadmap that will furnish us with the detailed plans needed to achieve the objectives laid out in the ambitious NEM. 

As The Sun says, it is a “quantum leap in 10 years” (ibid, p 8), the question that will surely be asked is “Can we do it?” Until we examine the said roadmap – the verdict’s still out! 

Give Najib a chance lah…